London Production
The musical Cats first opened on the West End on May 11th 1981, won numerous awards, gave 8,949 performances, and closed on May 11th 2002 on its 21st birthday. It was the longest running musical on the West End until 8th October 2006, when it was surpassed by Les Miserables. History Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cats is based on T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939), which the composer recalled as having been a childhood favourite. The songs of the musical comprise Eliot's verse set to music by the composer, the principal exception being the most famous song from the musical, "Memory ", for which the lyrics were written by director Trevor Nunn after an Eliot poem entitled "Rhapsody on a Windy Night". Also, a brief song entitled "The Moments of Happiness" was taken from a passage in Eliot's Four Quartets. Andrew Lloyd Webber began composing the songs in late 1977 and premiered the compositions at the Sydmonton Festival in 1980. The concert was attended by T.S. Eliot's wife, Valerie Eliot and she loved the songs that Webber had composed. She gave her blessing for the songs to be adapted into a musical stage play. Rehearsals for the musical began in early 1981 at the New London Theatre. Due to the Eliot estate asserting that they write no script and only use the original poems as the text, the musical had no identified plot during the rehearsal process, causing many actors to be confused about what they were actually doing. An unusual musical in terms of its construction, the overture incorporates a fugue and there are occasions when the music accompanies spoken verse. The show is completely told through music with virtually no spoken dialogue in between the songs. Dance is also a key element in the musical especially during the 10-minute Jellicle Ball dance sequence. The set, consisting of an oversized junk yard, remains the same throughout the show without any scene changes. Lloyd Webber's eclecticism is very strong here; musical genres range from classical to pop, music hall, jazz, rock and electro-acoustic music as well as hymnal songs such as "The Addressing of Cats". Development As the original production, the London production was very much experimental in nature. As can be seen from the original cast list, quite a few tracks were different - such as Mungojerrie playing Macavity, and Bustopher Jones played by the same actor as Old Deuteronomy, not Gus as is conventional now. After its huge success, the show transferred to Broadway in 1982, where it was considerably overhauled, made brighter, more cheerful and family-friendly than the dark, exotic world created originally. Gradually some of these changes filtered back to the London production, such as innovations in costume construction and edited musical arrangements. The show continued gradually changing until 1996, when it was the main influence on the video production. Further changes were minimal after that point, such as the character "George" being cut in 2001. Cast Original London Cast (in amphibolical order) For further [[London Casts|'London Casts']] see here. Final Cast, May 2002 Creative Team Original Team (1981) Director: Trevor Nunn Choreographer / Associate Director: Gillian Lynne Assistant Choreographer and Choreographer for Wayne Sleep's Tap Solo: Lindsay Dolan Set / Costume / Makeup Designer: John Napier Lighting Designer: David Hersey Sound Designer: Abe Jacob Production Musical Director: Harry Rabinowitz Dance Captain: Jo-Anne Robinson Later members Artistic Coordinator / Gillian Lynnes Assistant: Chrissie Cartwright (1986-2002) Makeup Designer: Karen Dawson (1989-2002) Awards and Nominations 1981 *Laurence Oliver Award - Best New Musical - Won *Laurence Olivier Award - Outstanding Achievement in a Musical - Gillian Lynne - Won Gallery 1981 Gallery Early Years London 1981 Lloyd Webber.jpg London 1981 Old Deut 2.jpg London 1981 Rumple Griz Vic.jpg London 1981 Tugger Bomba Vic.jpg London 1981 Victoria Tugger Jemima.jpg London 1981 Promo 1.jpg London 1981 Mungo Rumple 1.jpg London 1981 Griz Bomba Vic.jpg London 1981 Group 1.jpg London 1981 Old Deut 1.jpg ElainePaige1.jpg London 1981 Munkustrap.jpg L8302 Cast.jpg L8105 Cast.jpg Production Images London Crew 3.jpg L9111 02 Tugger.jpg L9305 Munkus Kittens.jpg London Bill Victor 2.jpg London Crew 4.jpg Jemima Alex Jay Alessandro pinna.jpg London Crew 2.jpg L0102 Demeter.jpg L0102 NBQ Summer.jpg L0102 Grizabella.jpg Kate Tydman3.jpg London Munkus 1.jpg London Demeter 1.jpg London Old Deut 2.jpg London Misto Louie Spence 1.jpg L0102 Cast.jpg L9608 cast.jpg L9011 Old Deut Kittens.jpg Promotional Images Tugger teejaye0.jpg London 1988 Sally Dewhurst.jpg London Cast Brian Blessed Bonnie Langford.jpg London Group 1.jpg Category:Productions